In the UK, a tabloid appears to be trying to incite panic over Fortnite . A journalist has even put out a reward for the hardest possible story about Fortnite addiction and a suicide attempt. The story made it to the front page.
The story: On July 31, a big story appeared in the “Daily Mirror”: “Fortnite turned me into a drug addict who attempted suicide.”
In the story, the account of a 17-year-old addicted to Fortnite is told. He steals from his parents to purchase “weapons and upgrades” in the game.
He then takes drugs to play for nights on end until he eventually attempts suicide. His father manages to pull him back from the balcony at the last moment. (Here is the online version of the story)
Criticism of the story: The story has been heavily criticized on social media. It overly “simplifies” the complex mechanisms behind a suicide attempt. It does not address the actual problems of the boy that lie behind the suicide attempt but rather makes Fortnite the sole reason.
“Gaming as a dangerous addiction” likely boosts sales
The background: As researched by Eurogamer, the author of this story intentionally put out a reward for someone to describe a drastic case of how someone suffers from “Fortnite”.
A reward of up to €336 was promised (£300).
Author has attempted the same with Pokémon GO
It has method: The author is said to have previously searched for stories in this way to cast gaming in a bad light:
In 2016, he sought someone to provide him with a story about how horrible Pokémon GO had affected their life. POGO was the hype game of the hour in 2016, just like Fortnite is now.
According to Eurogamer, the Mirror author did not take the truth seriously with his Pokémon GO story.
A journalist from Eurogamer had spun him a fabricated tale about how Pokémon GO had ruined his life, to expose him as sensationalist even back then. Yet the Mirror author was determined to publish the story despite all warning signs.
Panic boosts sales
Why does the Mirror do this? Even though the story about Fortnite gives no reason to suspect something is wrong, the intention is clearly recognizable, to blow up such stories as big and shocking as possible, playing on parents’ fears about what terrible effects Fortnite has on their children.
As a games writer for The Mirror, I’d just like to confirm that this is complete bollocks. I wish they’d conferred with us before printing this. There’s no point in having games coverage if we’re going to run stuff like this in print.
— Ryan Brown ? (@Toadsanime) July 31, 2018
Video game author distances himself from it: A game author for “The Mirror” dismissed the story as “complete nonsense” and distanced himself from it. He wished that he had been contacted before the issue appeared.
There have also been such attempts in Germany:
